scholarly journals Triple-negative breast carcinomas as tumors untraceable by conventional radiological methods: a retrospective cohort

Mastology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Suppl 1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Monteiro Sanvido ◽  
Morgana Domingues da Silva ◽  
Patricia Zaideman Charf ◽  
Gil Facina ◽  
Afonso Celso Pinto Nazário

Introduction: Invasive breast carcinoma represents a heterogeneous group of lesions that differ in their molecular and histological characteristics. Perou et al. evaluated breast tumors using the DNA microarray technique and classified them into four molecular subtypes: Luminal A (LA), Luminal B (LB), HER2 overexpression (HER2), and triple-negative (TN). Immunohistochemistry approximately identifies the subtypes. The TN subtype is negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2 protein. This subgroup is comprehensive, with 75% of them being basaloid, that is, cells with a molecular profile similar to that of myoepithelial cells and a high expression 5, 6, 14, and 17 cytokeratins, vimentin, and P-cadherin. These tumors tend to be more aggressive, have higher rates of cell proliferation, and, therefore, a worse prognosis. Clinically, triple-negative carcinomas are more strongly associated with younger patients, early local and distant recurrence. Given their rapid progression, they can be clinically diagnosed in the interval of screening tests. Objective: To compare clinical and radiological aspects of TN and other molecular subtypes of breast cancer at diagnosis. Method: The study retrospectively evaluated data collected from medical records of patients diagnosed with breast cancer and treated at the Hospital São Paulo from 2013 to 2016. Results: In the study period, 235 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed. The incidence in patients under 39 years was 4.2% for LA, 4.9% for LB, and 8.3% for TN. At diagnosis, 83% of patients with TN tumors had clinical complaints, of which 96% were nodules. In mammographies, TN presented as nodules in 100% of cases, LA in 68%, LB in 71%, and HER2 in 50%. Microcalcifications were identified in 14% of LA cases, 21% of LB, and 50% of HER2. TN had no cases of microcalcifications or asymmetries. Among the other subtypes, the diagnosis by physical examination represented 35% to 53% of cases. As to the staging at diagnosis, TN cases presented ≤2 cm tumors in 25% of cases. The LA, LB, and HER2 subtypes presented as ≤2 cm tumors, respectively, in 61%, 49.4%, and 43% of patients. Lymph node involvement by neoplasm at diagnosis occurred in 3.35%, 17.5%, 14.3%, and 33.3% of LA, LB, HER2, and TN cases, respectively. Conclusion: TN carcinomas affect a greater number of young patients, outside the screening age group. In our sample, TN tumors were diagnosed based on clinical complaints and showed no association with non-palpable breast lesions. TN is the subtype with the highest probability of interval tumors, untraceable by conventional exams, and, as a result, other screening options, such as serum assays, have been discussed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (22) ◽  
pp. 5394
Author(s):  
Magdalena Gumowska ◽  
Joanna Mączewska ◽  
Piotr Prostko ◽  
Katarzyna Roszkowska-Purska ◽  
Katarzyna Dobruch-Sobczak

Molecular profile of breast cancer provides information about its biological activity, prognosis and treatment strategies. The purpose of our study was to investigate the correlation between ultrasound features and molecular subtypes of breast cancer. From June 2019 to December 2019, 86 patients (median age 57 years; range 32–88) with 102 breast cancer tumors were included in the study. The molecular subtypes were classified into five types: luminal A (LA), luminal B without HER2 overexpression (LB HER2−), luminal B with HER2 overexpression (LB HER2+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Histopathological verification was obtained in core biopsy or/and post-surgery specimens in all cases. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between the subtypes and ultrasound imaging features. Experienced radiologists assessed lesions according to the BIRADS-US lexicon. The ultrasound scans were performed with a Supersonic Aixplorer and Supersonix. Based on histopathological verification, the rates of LA, LB HER2−, LB HER2+, HER2+, and TNBC were 33, 17, 17, 16, 19, respectively. Both LB HER2+ and HER2+ subtypes presented higher incidence of calcification (OR = 3.125, p = 0.02, CI 0.0917–5.87) and HER2+ subtype presented a higher incidence of posterior enhancement (OR = 5.75, p = 0.03, CI 1.2257–32.8005), compared to other subtypes. The calcifications were less common in TNBC (OR = 0.176, p = 0.0041, CI 0.0469–0.5335) compared to other subtypes. There were no differences with regard to margin, shape, orientation, elasticity values and vascularity among five molecular subtypes. Our results suggest that there is a correlation between ultrasonographic features assessed according to BIRADS-US lexicon and BC subtypes with HER2 overexpression (both LB HER2+ and HER2+). It may be useful for identification of these aggressive subtypes of breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 107 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 12-12
Author(s):  
D Aissaoui ◽  
M Bohli ◽  
R Ben Amor ◽  
J Yahyaoui ◽  
A Hamdoun ◽  
...  

Introduction: Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is a rare and very aggressive breast cancer with poor prognosis. The prevalence is different from a country to another. In Tunisia, it is about 5 to 7% of breast cancer. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological and histopathological features of patients with inflammatory breast cancer and to evaluate the treatment response according to the molecular subtypes. Methods: This retrospective review identified 31 patients with no metastatic IBC treated in our radiotherapy department between December 2019 and November 2020. IBC was confirmed using the clinical criteria. Baseline clinic-pathological and treatment information was retrieved from medical records. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS V.20. Results: Median age was 51.3 years [27-68]. 48% of tumors were grade 3. The average tumor size was 36mm [10-90]. The histological type was ductal carcinoma in 97%. Vascular invasion was noted in 24 patients (77%). Thirty patients were classified as stage IIIB and one patient was IIIC. 74% were hormone receptor positive and 45% were HER2 positive. Luminal B was the predominant subtype (52%) followed by Her2 positive (32%), Luminal A (23%), and triple negative (3%) All patients had chemotherapy: neoadjuvant for 26 patients (84%) and adjuvant for 5 patients (16%). Nine patients (29%) had tumor pathological complete response (pCR). Partial response was observed in 18 patients (58%). Lymph node pCR was noted in 16% of cases (n=5). Endocrine therapy and trastuzumab were given to 76% and 45% of patients, respectively. The influence of the molecular subtype was not statistically significant on the response to neoadjuvant treatment. The highest rate of pCR were 43% for Her2positive, then 27%, 21% and 9% for Luminal B, Luminal A and Triple negative, respectively (p=0.2). Conclusion: Our study showed a high percentage of hormone receptor and Her2+ (74% and 45% respectively) in IBC. Luminal B was the most frequent subtype. Anthracycline-based chemotherapy and trastuzumab improved the pCR rate: 44% for Her2positive. Triple negative showed poorer pCR than other breast cancer subtype without a significant difference. A larger study is warranted to confirm our findings.


Breast Care ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Hans-Jonas Meyer ◽  
Andreas Wienke ◽  
Alexey Surov

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging can be used to diagnose breast cancer (BC).Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) can be used to reflect tumor microstructure. Objectives: This analysis aimed to compare ADC values between molecular subtypes of BC based on a large sample of patients. Method: The MEDLINE library and Scopus database were screened for the associations between ADC and molecular subtypes of BC up to April 2020. The primary end point of the systematic review was the ADC value in different BC subtypes. Overall, 28 studies were included. Results: The included studies comprised a total of 2,990 tumors. Luminal A type was diagnosed in 865 cases (28.9%), luminal B in 899 (30.1%), human epidermal growth factor receptor (Her2)-enriched in 597 (20.0%), and triple-negative in 629 (21.0%). The mean ADC values of the subtypes were as follows: luminal A: 0.99 × 10–3 mm2/s (95% CI 0.94–1.04), luminal B: 0.97 × 10–3 mm2/s (95% CI 0.89–1.05), Her2-enriched: 1.02 × 10–3 mm2/s (95% CI 0.95–1.08), and triple-negative: 0.99 × 10–3 mm2/s (95% CI 0.91–1.07). Conclusions: ADC values cannot be used to discriminate between molecular subtypes of BC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 572-572
Author(s):  
Yunan Han ◽  
Shuai Xu ◽  
Graham A. Colditz ◽  
Adetunji T. Toriola

572 Background: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women. On the molecular level, breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease. Heterogeneous expressions of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are etiologically and clinically meaningful, as they map to distinct risk factors and different treatment strategies. Although breast cancer mortality has been declining since 1990, little is known about mortality trends according to molecular subtypes at the population level. Methods: We examined the incidence-based mortality rates and trends among women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from 2010 through 2017 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We defined incidence-based mortality using a moving 5-year calendar period starting in 2014. We further assessed mortality according to breast cancer molecular subtypes: luminal A (ER and/or PR positive, HER2 negative), luminal B (ER and/or PR positive, HER2 positive), HER2-enriched (HER2 over-expressed or amplified, ER and PR negative) and triple-negative (ER and PR negative, HER2 negative) tumors. We calculated annual percent changes (APC) in incidence-based mortality using joinpoint regression models. Results: Overall, incidence-based mortality for breast cancer significantly decreased by 1.5% annually from 2014 through 2017 (APC, -1.5%; 95% coefficient interval [CI], -2.3% to -0.7%; p<0.001). Incidence-based mortality decreased annually by 2.0% for luminal A breast cancer (APC, -2.0%; 95% CI, -3.7% to -0.3%; p<0.001), 2.1% for luminal B breast cancer (APC, -2.1%; 95% CI, -5.4% to 1.4%; p=0.1), 1.1% for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (APC, -1.1%; 95% CI, -2.1% to -0.0%; p<0.001). However, incidence-based mortality for HER2-enriched breast cancer increased 2.3% annually during the study period (APC, 2.3%; 95% CI, -2.4% to 7.2%; p=0.2). Conclusions: Between 2014 and 2017, incidence-based mortality for luminal A, luminal B, and TNBC decreased among U.S. women, with a larger decrease observed for luminal tumors. However, incidence-based mortality for HER2-enriched breast cancer increased. The favorable incidence-based mortality trends for luminal tumors and TNBC are likely due to the continuing improvement in treatments and early detection. The increasing trend of incidence-based mortality for HER2-enriched breast cancer constitutes a priority for cancer control activities and further research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e13075-e13075
Author(s):  
Lúcio Lara Santos ◽  
Fernando Miguel ◽  
Lygia Vieira Lopes ◽  
Julio Oliveira ◽  
Eduardo Ferreira ◽  
...  

e13075 Background: Women in sub-Saharan African countries, as Angola, are experiencing an increasing burden of aggressive breast cancer. Breast cancer molecular subtypes may enable more accurate diagnoses and support therapeutic decisions, however several studies have suggested that African breast cancers are predominantly hormone receptor poor. We conduct a study, to correlate the clinical pathological profiles and molecular subtypes, according its surrogate immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers, of breast cancer in Luanda, Angola. Methods: From Jan. 2011 to Dec. 30, 2014, 179 consecutive cases of microscopically confirmed invasive breast carcinoma that were evaluable for histology and IHC (ER, PR, HER2, and Ki-67) were classified. However, 21.8% (n = 39) of cases were poorly preserved, therefore it was only possible to study IHC in 140 cases. Results: All patients were female, the median age was 47 years (24-84 years). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common type, 91.4% (n = 128), grade 2 (moderately differentiated) was prevalent, 67.1%. Most of the tumours were locally advanced, stage III 65% (n = 91) and stage IV 3.6% (n = 5). In 140 cases studied, 53.2% (n = 74 ) of malignancies were hormone receptors positive, whence 25.7% were luminal A like, 19.3% luminal B like/ HER2 negative, 7.9% luminal B like/HER2 positive, 15.7% HER2 positive and 31,4% were triple-negative. Conclusions: Woman with breast cancer in Luanda-Angola were caracterized by advance stage and younger age at diagnosis of disease. The two predominant molecular subtypes are triple negative and luminal A like. Therefore, determining the molecular subtype using surrogate IHC markers has important treatment and prognostic implications for Angola women with breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Charity Ameh-Mensah ◽  
Babatunde Moses Duduyemi ◽  
Kweku Bedu-Addo ◽  
Elijah Atta Manu ◽  
Francis Opoku ◽  
...  

Background. Little is known about the role of apoptosis in the tumorigenesis and prognosis of breast cancer in Ghana. Chemotherapeutic drug efficacy partially relates to apoptosis induction, rendering it a vital target in cancer therapy with unique biomarker opportunities that have not been exploited. Aberrations in this pathway are central to tumorigenesis, tumor progression, overall tumor growth, and regression during treatment therapies. Antiapoptotic bcl-2 (gene) and p53 are known to play roles in apoptosis while Ki-67 is a proliferative marker. The aim of our study is to determine the association of bcl-2 (protein) with p53 and Ki-67 in 203 consecutive breast cancer cases over a 10-year period. Method. A retrospective cross-sectional study on archival FFPE tissue blocks over a 9-year period with abstraction of clinicopathologic data. Two hundred and three consecutive and suitable FFPE blocks were selected for tissue microarray (TMA) construction, and IHC (bcl-2 (protein), Ki-67, p53, cyclin D, pan cytokeratins A and E, ER, PR, and HER2/neu) was done. Expressions of bcl-2 (protein), p53, and Ki-67 were related to histological grade, lymphovascular invasion, and molecular subtypes. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze results. Results. Most of our cases were in the fifth decade of life (31%); invasive carcinoma of no special type (NST) was predominant (87%); histological grade III (38%) was the highest; and Luminal A (19.8%), Luminal B (9.9%), HER2 (16%), and TNBC (54.3%) constituted the molecular classes. bcl-2 expression was found in 38% of the cases. Our cases also showed mutation in p53 (36.7%) and ki-67 expression (62.5%). bcl-2 (protein) and p53 significantly correlated with Luminal B and TNBC ( p < 0.01 ). Ki-67 also correlated significantly with Luminal A and B and HER2 overexpression ( p < 0.01 ). Premenopausal age (40–49) and histological grade inversely correlated with bcl-2 (protein) expression. p53 statistically correlated with Ki-67 ( p < 0.05 ). Conclusion. Our results show high expression of bcl-2 (protein) suggesting an important role of apoptosis in Ghanaian breast cancer cases. bcl-2 (protein), p53, and Ki-67 expressions emerged interdependently from this research and can thus be manipulated in prediction and prognosis of breast cancers in our setting.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jonas Meyer ◽  
Andreas Wienke ◽  
Alexey Surov

Abstract Background: Magnetic resonance imaging can be used to diagnose breast cancer (BC)s. Diffusion weighted imaging and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) can be used to reflect tumor microstructure. The present analysis sought to compare ADC values between molecular subtypes of BC based upon a large patient sample.Methods: MEDLINE library and SCOPUS databases were screened for the associations between ADC and molecular suptype of BC to April 2020. Primary endpoint of the systematic review was the ADC value in different BC. Overall, 28 studies were suitable for the analysis and included into the present study.Results: The included studies comprised a total of 2990 tumors. Luminal A type was diagnosed in 865 cases (28.9%), Luminal B in 899 cases (30.1%), Her-2 enriched in 597 cases (20.0%) and triple negative in 629 cases (21.0%). The mean ADC value of the Luminal A type was 0.99 × 10− 3 mm2/s [95% CI 0.94-1.04], of the Luminal B type was 0.99 × 10− 3 mm2/s [95% CI 0.89-1.05], of Her 2-enriched type was 1.02 × 10− 3 mm2/s [95% CI 0.95-1.08] and of the triple negative type was 0.99 × 10− 3 mm2/s [95% CI 0.91-1.07].Conclusions: ADC values cannot be used to discriminate between molecular subtypes of BC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Leithner ◽  
Joao V. Horvat ◽  
Maria Adele Marino ◽  
Blanca Bernard-Davila ◽  
Maxine S. Jochelson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To evaluate the diagnostic performance of radiomic signatures extracted from contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) for the assessment of breast cancer receptor status and molecular subtypes. Methods One hundred and forty-three patients with biopsy-proven breast cancer who underwent CE-MRI at 3 T were included in this IRB-approved HIPAA-compliant retrospective study. The training dataset comprised 91 patients (luminal A, n = 49; luminal B, n = 8; HER2-enriched, n = 11; triple negative, n = 23), while the validation dataset comprised 52 patients from a second institution (luminal A, n = 17; luminal B, n = 17; triple negative, n = 18). Radiomic analysis of manually segmented tumors included calculation of features derived from the first-order histogram (HIS), co-occurrence matrix (COM), run-length matrix (RLM), absolute gradient (GRA), autoregressive model (ARM), discrete Haar wavelet transform (WAV), and lesion geometry (GEO). Fisher, probability of error and average correlation (POE + ACC), and mutual information coefficients were used for feature selection. Linear discriminant analysis followed by k-nearest neighbor classification (with leave-one-out cross-validation) was used for pairwise radiomic-based separation of receptor status and molecular subtypes. Histopathology served as the standard of reference. Results In the training dataset, radiomic signatures yielded the following accuracies > 80%: luminal B vs. luminal A, 84.2% (mainly based on COM features); luminal B vs. triple negative, 83.9% (mainly based on GEO features); luminal B vs. all others, 89% (mainly based on COM features); and HER2-enriched vs. all others, 81.3% (mainly based on COM features). Radiomic signatures were successfully validated in the separate validation dataset for luminal A vs. luminal B (79.4%) and luminal B vs. triple negative (77.1%). Conclusions In this preliminary study, radiomic signatures with CE-MRI enable the assessment of breast cancer receptor status and molecular subtypes with high diagnostic accuracy. These results need to be confirmed in future larger studies.


BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. e021819
Author(s):  
Qin Li ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Xiaoyue Jiang ◽  
Qi Du ◽  
Yingrui Li ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThis study investigated the characteristics and prognostic values of traditional pathological parameters and advanced molecular subtypes in women with operable breast cancer in Beijing.DesignA retrospective study through case information enquiry or telephonic follow-up.SettingBeijing Friendship Hospital.Participants1042 patients with primary operable breast cancer between 2008 and 2012 were enrolled in the study.MeasuresThe characteristics and 5-year relapse rates according to the Nottingham Prognosis Index (NPI) and molecular subtypes were analysed.ResultsIn 1042 patients, the percentages of high histological grade, N1+N2, T2+T4 were 7.3%, 24.2%, 46.9%, respectively. In patients with invasive breast cancer, the percentages of auxiliary staging, positive margins, vascular invasion and nerve infiltration were 65.0%, 2.8%, 10.5% and 1.1%, respectively. The missing percentages of auxiliary staging, margins, vascular tumour invasion and nerve infiltration were 14.2%, 31.4%, 46.5% and 97.4%, respectively. The percentages of ER-positive, PR-positive, HER2-positive and Ki-67 high expression were 64.3%, 43.8%, 18.8% and 62.7%, respectively. The percentages of luminal A, luminal B, HER2-overexpression and basal-like breast cancers were 10.5%, 54.2%, 8.2% and 11.2%, respectively. Luminal A, luminal B and basal-like breast cancer subtypes were more common in the >60 years group, the 41–60 years group and the 20–40 years group, respectively. The 5-year relapse rates according to NPI were as follows: 6.2% in the low recurrence risk group, 10.4% in the moderate recurrence risk group and 12.9% in the high recurrence risk group. The 5-year relapse rates according to molecular subtypes were as follows: luminal A 4.0%, luminal B 7.0%, HER2-overexpression14.2%, basal-like 15.6%.ConclusionsReasonable analysis of traditional pathological parameters and advanced molecular subtypes in women with operable breast cancer in Beijing may be useful to guide precise treatment and predict prognosis.


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